Return
of U.S. war dead kept solemn, secretWed
December 31, 2003By
Gregg ZoroyaCourtesy
of USA TODAY

The
most touching moment of a slain soldier's homecoming, say those who witness
it, is when the chaplain steps forward to pray.

Standing
over a flag-draped coffin that arrived from Iraq this month, Air Force
Chaplain Robert Cannon chose this invocation: "We pray and long for the
day when war will be no more."

An
honor guard removed the aluminum "transfer case" containing the body from
the aircraft, as other military officers present to receive the slain servicemember
snapped salutes. The honor guard process here at Dover - repeated hundreds
of times since the Iraq war began - is dignified and reverent. And it's
carried out in secret, off-limits to the media.

This
wasn't always the case. Photographs and film footage of caskets coming
home from battlefields have been a stark reminder for Americans of the
toll of war. During the Vietnam War, the image of caskets arriving at Dover
became a staple of the nightly news. The phrase "Dover Test" later came
to signify public tolerance, or lack of it, for mounting war casualties.

Since
1991, the media have been banned from covering the arrival of remains at
Dover. The air base houses the military's largest mortuary, where bodies
are prepared for burial before they are sent to the families' hometowns.

In
March, before the Iraq war began, the Pentagon clamped down on similar
coverage from military installations around the world, such as Ramstein
Air Base in Germany or in Afghanistan. "The prohibition includes
... the movement of remains at any point," the Pentagon guidelines say.

The
result is that images of caskets being returned to U.S. soil are not shown
to the American public. This policy contrasts with Italy's national display
of grief last month when 19 of that country's troops died in an Iraq suicide
bombing and received a state funeral through the streets of Rome.

There
have been exceptions to the media ban at Dover. In February, NASA released
photos of the caskets carrying remains of the seven astronauts killed in
the Columbia shuttle explosion. When fighting began in Afghanistan in 2001,
reporters were allowed to cover the honor guard ritual at Ramstein in Germany.

Guarding
families' feelings

Government
spokesmen say the change in March to extend the media ban to all military
installations was to be sensitive to the families of those killed in Iraq.
"We respect and protect their privacy diligently," Pentagon spokesman Bryan
Whitman says. "We're going to do everything in our power to ensure reverence
for their fallen loved one."

Still,
presidential historians say wanting to control the public image of war
is nothing new for presidents or military leaders. "They don't want the
public to see what the great difficulties are," says Boston University
historian Robert Dallek, author of biographies on John Kennedy and Lyndon
Johnson. "They're fearful that the public is turning against the war because
it's frustrated by the losses of blood and treasure, in this case Iraq
and earlier in Vietnam."

But
the ban on pictures from Dover and other military facilities does not extend
to recovering the remains of troops killed in previous wars. Reporters
can cover the arrival of caskets containing men who died in Vietnam or
Korea as they arrive at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. Last month, the
Defense Department released a photo of a coffin containing a Korean War
casualty being carried off an aircraft by an honor guard at Hickam. The
image is almost identical to what takes place at Dover.

Family
sensitivities are less a factor at Hickam. "That's not really an issue
in these cases, because the families have, unfortunately, had to live with
the uncertainty of the missing loved ones for decades," says Larry Greer,
spokesman for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, which brings home those
missing from prior conflicts.

Some
critics, even in the military, say bringing home lost troops from past
wars is seen as good news, while bringing home the dead from Iraq is bad
news.

President
Bush also hasn't attended funerals or special ceremonies for the military
men or women killed in Iraq.

Private
meetings

Bush's
public image has been with participants of the war, most dramatically on
Thanksgiving when he secretly flew to Baghdad to surprise soldiers and
honor their service. On three occasions - in April, September and November
- he met privately with families of soldiers and Marines killed in Iraq.
He has visited military hospitals three times to meet with wounded servicemembers.

"There
will certainly be more events in the future to honor those who have fallen
and express our deepest gratitude," White House spokesman Scott McClellan
said this month.

"The
president approaches it from a number of ways, from sending letters to
the families (and) meeting the families of fallen soldiers, to reminding
the American people on a regular basis that men and women in the military
made the ultimate sacrifice," he says.

Joyce
Raezer of the National Military Family Association, an advocacy group,
said her organization is in regular contact with these families, and they
appreciate the administration's concerns about protecting their privacy.

"Most
families want that privacy at these very crucial times. But they want some
other way for the national leader to acknowledge their sacrifice," she
says. "They're looking for more of that public statement."

Past
presidents, including Bush's father, have attended special memorial services,
but none for U.S. troops killed during a war.

The
elder President Bush spoke at a memorial for 47 sailors killed in a peacetime
explosion aboard the USS Iowa in 1989. "I can only offer you the gratitude
of a nation," he said at the ceremony.

President
Reagan spoke at a memorial for sailors of the USS Stark killed during a
misguided Israeli air attack in 1987, for 241 Marines who died in Beirut
and for other casualties in Grenada. "We grieve along with the families,"
he said at the Beirut-Grenada memorial.

President
Clinton went to Dover in 1996 for the return of 33 Americans, including
Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, killed in a Croatia air crash. He did the
same at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland in 1998 for Americans killed
in a Nairobi terrorist bombing.

President
Carter attended funerals at Arlington National Cemetery, including a combined
service for eight military personnel who died in the failed hostage rescue
attempt in Iran in 1980. "It's hard to accept the loss of these brave young
men at the peak of their life and career," he said in the eulogy.

Bush's
absence at funerals or memorials follows a custom of the Vietnam War. Researchers
at the Kennedy and Johnson libraries and archivists of President Nixon's
records found no evidence that those presidents attended ceremonies or
funerals for U.S. troops killed in war.

Presidential
historian Doug Brinkley says it is extremely difficult for a president
to make a dramatic gesture of public mourning during a war.

"It
is the right thing to do," Brinkley says. "But there is also something
called political survival."